On the cover of the first edition in Chinese of the American bible of pop culture is Cui Jian, the godfather of Chinese rock and roll. Featuring the 44-year-old rock star was a bold choice. Cui only last September played his first public concert in China in 12 years, to nearly 10,000 fans in the Workers’ Stadium in Beijing.

The magazine features Jay Chou, a pop star from Taiwan, Nigo, a Japanese hip hop artist and Muzimei, a Chinese blogger famous for her sex diary, to round out its Asian input. More than half of the content is translated from the US edition.

In an opening editorial, Rolling Stone says: “Today we are sending out a call to our readers, let us join together in the East to create a legend that will be worthy of this age.”

Sales have been brisk since it hit the streets on Saturday. One magazine stall-holder said: “I’ve sold out. That’s more than 20 copies today. Maybe it’s because of the free gift, but I think it’s because people are quite interested to read this new magazine.”

A baseball cap with “Rolling Stone” on the front is tucked into the magazine. “I’m going to keep this as a souvenir. One day it could be a collectors’ item,” said Wang Tong as he bought the stall’s last copy.

Robby Yung of One Media, based in Hong Kong, which publishes the magazine under licence, said that it would rely more on strong writing and photo-journalism than the pop and gossip of its English-language sister publication. “We feel Chinese music and arts are maturing rapidly and that a Chinese edition will be viable.”

An interview with Cui was a coup for Rolling Stone, as he has rarely appeared in Chinese publications since playing to students calling for democracy in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

He had been scheduled to open for the Rolling Stones in 2003 until the SARS outbreak forced them to cancel. He will now have another chance. After negotiating a debut in China since the 1970s, when they were kept out because they were seen as “spiritual pollution”, the Stones are finally set to play in Shanghai in April.

OFF THE PRESS

• To publish a magazine in China, Western companies must form a joint venture with a local publisher and win government approval
  
  
• Condé Nast linked with China Pictorial for its Chinese Vogue last year
  
  
• France’s Hachette Filipacchi has published Elle in China since 1989.
  
  
• US publisher Hearst, in co-operation with China’s Trends Group, launched a Chinese Cosmopolitan in 1998 and Harper’s Bazaar in 2001. Marie Claire and Esquire are also published
  
  
• In 2004, BBC Worldwide introduced a Chinese Top Gear magazine and Emap a version of FHM

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